JMW Turner, Küssnacht, Lake of Lucerne: Sample Study circa 1842-3Bequeathed by the artist 1856. © Tate, all rights reserved
Tate Britain is mounting its largest survey ever of JMW Turner’s watercolour masterpieces with an exhibition of works selected by David Hockney.
The summer exhibition Hockney on Turner Watercolours runs until February 3 2008 and unites the two great English artists with a showcase of Turner's unrivalled mastery of the medium, together with the insights of Hockney, who is also an exceptional watercolourist.
Around 165 watercolours from the world’s greatest collection of Turners are on display including a number of recent acquisitions. Turner’s masterpiece The Blue Rigi (1842), which has recently been saved for the nation, is one of the highlights in the exhibition.
JMW Turner, Norham Castle, Sunrise: Colour Study 1797-8. Bequeathed by the artist 1856. © Tate, all rights reserved
At the heart of the exhibition, Hockney has selected a group of Turner's unique colour studies or 'beginnings' and added his own commentary on the processes by which the artist constructed his perspectives and patterns of colour and light, and experimented with the potential of watercolour.
“Turner is one of the masters of watercolour,” said Hockney. “I am thrilled to be working with Tate on this major exhibition and to study in depth their extraordinary collection of Turner’s watercolours. This is one of the most challenging mediums for an artist to work with.”
Due to conservation reasons, the rare watercolours can only occasionally be exhibited and the show offers a rare opportunity for visitors to study the development of the virtuoso techniques that enabled Turner to paint ambitious watercolours that could compete with oil paintings.
His groundbreaking use of watercolour spanned his career and it is argued that the insights he gained from working in the medium transformed all aspects of his art.
JMW Turner, Venice: San Giorgio Maggiore - Early Morning 1819. © Tate, all rights reserved
The exhibition follows a broadly chronological path, focussing on the main aspects of Turner’s output. From architecture to topography, ideal and historic landscape to study from nature, finished works to private sketches, illustrations to literature and works for the engraver, each of them revealing the great master’s extraordinary range as a watercolourist.
Highlights include The St Gotthard Road between Amsteg and Wassen looking up the Reuss Valley (c1803 or 1814-15); Turner’s beautiful studies of the Thames, made on the spot in his sketchbooks; The Somerset Room at Petworth, and watercolours made on the spot in Italy in 1819 and 1828 like St Peter's from the Villa Barberini (1819) and Lake Geneva from the Dent d'Oche from above Lausanne (1841).
Considered to be one of the greatest painters Britain has ever produced JMW Turner (1775–1851), left the Turner Bequest – the largest and finest collection of his work – to the nation upon his death. It comprises hundreds of oils and thousands of watercolours and other works on paper, providing a profound insight into his creative evolution.
David Hockney painting Woldgate Wood, East Yorkshire May 17 2006. © David Hockney 2006. Photo: Jean-Pierre Goncalves
An exhibition of new paintings by David Hockney accompanies the Turner exhibition. David Hockney: The East Yorkshire Landscape marks the artist’s 70th birthday in July and includes five large new paintings, each one around 12ft long.
